Harvard University Creates Living, Breathing Human Lung-on-a-Chip

(THE SCIENCE COALITION) Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have created a device that mimics a living, breathing human lung on a microchip. The device, about the size of a rubber eraser, acts much like a lung in a human body and is made using human lung and blood vessel cells. Because the lung device is translucent, it provides a window into the inner-workings of the human lung without having to invade a living body. It has the potential to be a valuable tool for testing the effects of environmental toxins, absorption of aerosolized therapeutics and the safety and efficacy of new drugs. Such a tool may help accelerate pharmaceutical development by reducing the reliance on current models, in which testing a single substance can cost more than $2 million. “The ability of the lung-on-a-chip device to predict absorption of airborne nano-particles and mimic the inflammatory response triggered by microbial pathogens, provides proof-of-principle for the concept that organs-on-chips could replace many animal studies in the future,” says Donald Ingber, senior author on the study and founding director of Harvard’s Wyss Institute.

One Response to Harvard University Creates Living, Breathing Human Lung-on-a-Chip

Hello, I am 60 years old. I have had COPD sense 1998. I believe in your chip and I wouldn’t mind trying it out. I and others have trouble when it comes to cold, damp foggie weather. I wouldn’t mind taking a deep breath again without caughing so long and loud. Thank you and keep up the good work. Patricia